Cosmic Abundance of Helium and Hydrogen The deuterium nucleus is a nucleus of special importance because of the sensitivity of its production to the density of the protons and neutrons and temperature in the early universe. The number of deuterium nuclei that do not later undergo fusion reaction to make Helium-3 nuclei also depends sensitively on the temperature and density of the protons and neutrons. A denser universe would have had more deuterium fused to form helium. A less dense universe would have had more deuterium remaining. The amount of the final Helium-4 product is not as sensitive to the ordinary matter density of the early universe, so the amount of the remaining deuterium seen today is used as a probe of the early density. Therefore, measurement of the primordial deuterium can show if there is enough ordinary matter to make the universe positively-curved and eventually stop the expansion. Current measurements of the primordial

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